Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Geeky Teas
Tea Description:
Sometimes you want to sip tea and contemplate. Sometimes you want tea to kick your backside and get you going. For those times, this is your tea. It’s got muscles.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh Geeky Teas! How I love and adore you!
Geeky Teas is the perfect amount of fandom sprinkled into your tea. I have always said this but there is something so very satisfying about drinking a tea dedicated to your fandom. Just makes you love the tea even more!
This particular tea is based off of Ash, my first love when it comes to my love for horror movies. Bruce Campbell is my favorite actor and the Evil Dead series are among my favorite movies, so of course a tea dedicated to these loves, I would be all over.
This tea is a lovely tightly rolled gunpowder that once you add your water and allow the tea to brew, the teas uncurl and dance in the water providing you with an amazing brew. Brewed up with water at 180F and allowed to steep for about 2 minutes, this tea was just fun to sit and watch.
Finally it was time to try the tea and oh, yes. This tea is exactly how it showed me. Strong, to the point, with that whole mouth feel. This tea really delivers a gorgeous flavor that has a slightly nutty yet slightly smoked flavor that is so satisfying with a touch of astringency coming about. So smooth and well balanced! One of those teas that make you sit back and really indulge yourself in the tea. Or a tea that will get you prepped and ready to take on the day.
I am just loving it and can’t wait to try this tea as a cold brew or an iced tea mixed with some fruit. I bet the flavor combinations will be amazing!
If there was ever a tea to represent my beloved Ash, this would be it!
Anniversary Blend from Tozy Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tea Tozy
Tea Description:
Celebrating Tozy Tea’s anniversary, this wonderful black tea blend features a smokiness and hints of caramel and vanilla.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I love teas with a convenience factor to them. Prepping loose leaf tea is something I’m now used to and have worked that into my everyday. But there are some days that I don’t have time to boil the water, steep the tea, and pour it into my travel mug. Sometimes I just need to throw in some tea and go. I don’t yet have a travel mug that would steep the tea as I take on my daily grind. I need to look into getting one. But until I do I have this gem.
This tea has a slightly smokey black base finish with sweet caramel and vanilla notes in each and every sip. There are slight notes of tobacco, but very slight. I actually am surprised this tea sachet can pack this much flavor. I’ve had a few other offerings from Tozy Tea and this one ranks right up there with their Cherry Blossom, which I adore!
As this one cools, the flavors just continue to grow stronger. I even tried making this into an iced tea and the results were very similar. The only difference is the caramel and vanilla notes were more pronounced.
I think overall I preferred this one brewed hot. The tea gave me that warm and cozy feeling that a good tea will give you. I instantly wanted to curl up with a book and this cuppa. This particular tea sachet has such a simple yet delicious flavor.
Another winner from Tozy Tea!
Fresh Books from Tea and Other Things
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black & Green Teas
Where to Buy: Tea and Other Things
Tea Description:
The first thing you inhale is the rich, smokey scent of a freshly opened new book. This tea starts off full of character with toast like notes, ending with a sweet rich caramel, and finally leaving you with a nostalgic feeling of a good, classic story.
Ingredients
Genmaicha (Japanese Green Tea + Roasted Rice), Hojicha (Roasted Japanese Green Tea), Lapsang Souchong (Chinese black tea that has been smoked over oak), Caramel pieces (Contains sugar + milk products)
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This tea was so intriguing. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a tea for me.
This blend has so many uniquely different types of tea going on that I think it actually hurts the blend. The Lapsang Souchong absolutely dominates the rest of the tea and all you really get is a smoky black tea taste. The caramel, genmaicha, and hoijcha are lost in the blend. I do like Lapsang Souchong but this one I just really didn’t care for. It was an overload of smokiness.
Maybe if the Lapsang Souchong was taken down some, then the rest of the other blends could pop out and shine. Or maybe if the Lapsang was taken out completely. Now that would be a tea I would be all about.
The other unfortunate issue with this tea was that this tea and a sample tea were shipped in a regular letter style envelope without any padding or tissue paper to protect the tea. A lot of the tea was crushed and to even get the tea out of the envelope was hard. The Fresh Books tea was a 50g package and it was a pretty big package. The sample tea I think was protected by the 50g package and was completely fine. I’m not sure if this is why the blend tasted the way it did. The boyfriend had the sample pack (Cream of Early Grey) and really liked it.
This Etsy store showcases some fun sounding teas including fandom teas. I may check them out later or even send them a message asking if they can create this same blend without the smokey black tea. I think that blend would be amazing!
Jackee Muntz from Andrews and Dunham Damn Fine Tea
Tea Type: Black Tea
Where To Buy: Andrews and Dunham Damn Fine Tea
Product Description:
The middleweight dynamo, The English Wonder of West Midlands, has yet to be defeated in a morning bout. While it is known that he prefers to maintain a strict diet of milk and raw honey for up to three days before each contest, it may also be of interest to know that he has startled all manner of audience with his feats of manly engagement. Only last week he delighted onlookers in Wollaston and Great Wyrley with his repeated submersing of both fists in boiling hot water, emerging entirely unscathed and without remark.
Andrews & Dunham insist that you soak an ample quantity of these black tea leaves from China in boiling water for no fewer than four minutes. Repeating this effort will result in further satisfaction.
Tasters Review:
Jackee Muntz – you are another Slightly Smoky Tea I find enjoyable! Jackee smells a bit smoky and tastes a little bit more smoky.
I do not smoke. I am one of just two people where I work who do NOT smoke. Therefore – when they take their ‘smoke-breaks’ I declare a “smoky-tea-break’ and from now on Jackee Muntz is one of the ones on my list to share a ‘smoky-tea-break’ with.
I did try a 2nd infusion on this one and found that the smokiness isn’t really there as much the 2nd time around but it’s a bit more sweet and caramel-like.
At the very least no one can say that Jackee isn’t unique!
Victorian Afternoon from Mark T. Wendell Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Mark T. Wendell Tea Company
Company Description:
Created over 15 years ago and previously sold as a private label blend for the Elizabethan Club of Yale University, we are pleased to offer this original black tea blend to our customers as our Victorian Afternoon tea blend. This vibrant blend of Indian, Sri Lankan and Formosan teas is further complemented by a slightly smoky character. It yields a dark, reddish cup with a sparkling liquor when brewed.
Taster’s Review:
I am not a big fan of smoky teas. I never have been. A slight smoky note in a tea is an agreeable flavor to my palate, but when a tea possesses a very heavily smoked essence… I’m probably going to be hesitant (and that’s putting it mildly) to try it.
So when I open a package of tea and am greeted with a strong smoky aroma, I’m not really excited. Again, that’s putting it mildly.
When I opened the package of this Victorian Afternoon from Mark T. Wendell… I was not really excited. I could smell the smoke. I contemplated putting it away and not giving it a fair try.
But I didn’t do that.
Instead, I measured the tea into my smart brewing device, and heated the water. Before steeping it, I poured in some boiling water to give it a 15 second rinse, strained the tea, and then I began steeping.
“I’m going to try it before I decide I don’t like it,” I said to myself – kind of like a little pep talk. After all, isn’t that what I tell my kids? “How do you know you don’t like it if you’ve never even tried it?”
The brewed liquor still smells smoky even after the rinse, but it is not an overwhelming smoky note.
Not bad! Not at all! Yes, it’s smoky, and a bit stronger than that “slight smoky note” that I mentioned previously. I actually LIKE the smoky note here. There is a burnt sugar/caramel-like taste that follows the smoky flavor, and it’s really quite delicious.
This tea is strong, sweet, and smoky. And, it’s good.
